Fear Not; You are not Alone
Deuteronomy 3:22 Do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God Himself will fight for you.
Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? ‘Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go
Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Isaiah 35:4 Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with recompense of God; He will come and save you.”
Isaiah 41:13 For I, the Lord your God will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’
Joel 2:21 Fear not, O land; Be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things!
Matthew 10:28, 31 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell
Hebrews 13:6 So we may boldly say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’
There are many verses God repeats through different authors He uses to call His people to Him. He created all, all, and He wants us to thankful, amazed, blessed, and in a relationship with Him of awe, so He can continue to bless us throughout our lives.
Of course, we have a self-centered, selfish and doubting nature. We tend to believe everything is going to last great just like it is, there is never going to be a reckoning for misbehavior, for abusing cigarettes, food, sugar, alcohol, daredevil lifestyle and so many other things that have us choosing to live life on the cusp. Cockily, we tend to make our choices, go our own way, and then sometimes, if we make a mess we might look to Him for help.
But God tells us to repent of our sins, to follow and revere Him, to do as instructed with a heart of thankfulness and things will go well; to not fear or worry; to have courage; to love one another; to seek and follow Him; to care for those among us who need help—widows and children who no longer have a man to supply for family; to eat obediently; to recognize and confess sin in order to be forgiven.
If one reads the bible through, these repeated commands become more apparent. Different authors, in different times and places, have had the same words and thoughts imprinted on their minds to set forth to God’s people.
Moses is believed to have written the first five books of the bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers. Throughout, Moses shared instructions that God gave him, One of the many commands we see God say is to ’have courage, to not be afraid’. He is not saying to experience no fear; His encouragement is to make known He is with us even in fearful times and to continue to move forward because He is with us.
The Psalms are generally considered to have been written by David who lived around the time of 1000-930 BC. The Psalms also comment on fearful and anxious times. One of the next big authors of the bible is Isaiah and he lived during the period roughly of 740-700 BC, and often, too his message was one of do not fear.
And while Jesus walked did He not preach and teach to not be afraid, yet He moved forward teaching, showing love, and even with the threat of the Jewish leaders, He moved forward, teaching and healing as many as possible.
In all depictions of the verses of the Bible, He showed no fear, yet resolutely, meekly, went before His accusers, suffered their abuses, verbal and physical, and He died on a cross to free us of sin, and become the only true sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. We know He was grieved, probably anxious as He checked on the disciples and wished they could pray with Him, but He did not run, He did not ask His Father to be released from His hours of torment and torture, but He walked with courage to face what He and His Father had set up for our redemption.
So these verses are to remind us that no matter what we are going through, fearing, and suffering, we are to go forward, knowing God is with us, and we can face it with courage. Courage does not mean not being afraid; it takes courage to go forward when you are afraid, but know that you must fight the fight you have been given.
I thank You, Holy Spirit that in a flash of fear or anxiety, you zap a reminder into my memory of one of the verses I have to not fear, for you are with me and ‘mybellaviews.’
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